Things I Demand Hasbro Standardize

In the absence of new products to photograph, I have to write about something. Over the past 3 weeks, we've had the opportunity to review 7 figures, 1 vehicle, and 2 Displaysets^™©®. It's feast or famine with this stuff, and we're done eating. So here I go...

I've been digging deep into my collection over the past week and a half as I have just completed my long awaited custom built-in installation, where I will be showcasing some of my favorite things in my collection room. I'll write more about that another time, but the point is that I've been sorting through a bunch of figures in order to have the setups that I would like to feature, and I've re-opened some wounds that we have discussed in the past while doing some of our figure reviews. Sometimes I'll pick up a figure and I'm delighted at how awesome it is, even it doesn't have all the 2024 bells and whistles. And sometimes I'll pick up a figure and get angry because the lack of effort is obvious, or maybe it's just missing some features that should be included.

If you regularly read this site, you'll know that Chris and I spend a lot of time discussing what Hasbro is unable to do. We do this with the intent of helping our community temper expectations and try to head off some misplaced frustrations. These limitations include lack of budget, availability of tooling, factory scheduling, release timing, marketing research, retailer partnerships, limited available slots in the line, and more. These limitations are as frustrating for us as they are for every other collector, but they are the reality and help explain a lot of why things aren't exactly as we would want them to be. But sometimes these reasons just don't serve to soothe frustrations (even our own!) when a particular final product is badly flawed.

You'll also probably know that I am a big fan of TVC in general. By that I mean that I personally believe that the quality of today's 3.75" Star Wars figures is nothing short of astonishing, even when compared to releases from just 4-5 years ago. I recently defended a grade that I gave a figure because I classify 95% of complaints as nitpicks that really don't move the needle enough for me to change the score - especially on a whole number scale from 1-10 that includes figures from 1996. A few missing paint wear details in a figure's armor certainly might indicate a general decrease in the overall excellence of quality (as Chris recently lamented), but to me, that's just not enough to change the score of an individual figure from a previous release if it's a repack/retool. I certainly don't expect everyone to agree, that's just my take. Nevertheless, I absolutely do acknowledge the importance of layers of paint apps, and that this premium detail is what most collectors expect in the line. All in all, I say I'm a fan of these figures because they are just overwhelmingly incredibly detailed and articulated, and we as a group have had to become so invested in the minutiae that sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees.

So here are 5 things that I demand (because I can stomp my feet and cross my arms just like anyone else) Hasbro make sure they address with every TVC release going forward so they can limit the number of failures that end up wasting precious slot opportunities. These are in no particular order, but I will start with what I think is probably the most important:

1. Full 2024 super articulation for ALL TVC figures

Did you ever hear the tragedy of 8D8 the Elbow-less? I thought so. It’s not a story the Hasbro Star Wars Team would tell you. It’s a TVC legend. 8D8 was a 3.75" figure, so lacking in articulation and unable to climb walls he could use his missing elbows to create mass frustration...He had such an inadequate sculpt that he could even keep the ones he cared about from continuing to collect TVC.

All figures in TVC should have the full complement of articulation. Exceptions would only be for figures that don't have those joints, i.e. astromechs. All figures should have what we used to call Jedi Level Articulation because it was essential that dynamic characters like Jedi be 100% posable. But in 2024, that term serves no purpose. Every figure should have the full compliment of the most modern articulation available. Today, that includes things like ball jointed wrists, rocker ankles, and the current hip style. I simply do not trust anyone, whether it's Hasbro or even the community (of which I am a part), to decide that a particular figure is okay with reduced articulation "because they just stand there." They should all have it, and then we have no quarrel.

Additionally, the fullest possible range of motion is included in this demand. All figures must be able to bend at the elbows and knees well past 90 degrees. This, in particular, is one of my peeves. I'm certainly not an insider and don't possess professional knowledge of what costs go into the design, manufacture, or assembly of a TVC figure, but my untrained eye cannot see any cost associated with whether or not an elbow or knee flexes past 90 degrees. Simply going to 100 or 110 greatly enhances the ability to pose a figure realistically in sitting, kneeling, and action poses. This minor articulation tweak has an immense return on fun!

And along those lines, if Hasbro is going to invest in this level of articulation, they must ensure that the sculpt accommodates the max range of motion possible. I know these are not Marvel figures that sacrifice aesthetics for action (thank The Maker), but it's frustrating when a figure's head barely moves upward or downward, if the shin doesn't allow the foot to flex upward enough, or if overly long sleeves prevent the wrists from doing wristy things.

2. Main characters must get all new sculpts in line with 2024 standards

While it may be okay to re-release or retool secondary or tertiary characters from earlier in the line (not too far back, though!), this just doesn't work for main characters. The community was united in its disdain for figures such as Princess Leia (Endor) (horribly outdated articulation) and most recently, VC281 Han Solo (almost as bad - and the re-used parts were only 5 years old at the time). In his review of VC281, Chris said it thusly (in bold all caps):

ANY CORE OT HERO UPDATE FROM HERE ON OUT MUST BE 100% NEWLY TOOLED, EXCEPT IN THE RARE OCCASION WHERE THE REUSED TOOLING BOTH POSTDATES BARBELL HIPS AND IS 100% ACCURATE TO THE SOURCE.

3. Paint apps are important.

I mentioned in the intro that I personally might not sweat the missing silver "ding" in a figure's armor, but overall I do wholeheartedly agree that paint apps, such as washes and weathering, are important and add to overall feeling of quality of value - and to earn the feeling among collectors that these are not toys (an illusion utterly shattered by the lack of paint depth on the rocky portion of the recent Forge set). I was recently looking closely at the skiff, and was amazed again at the level of paint detailing - which we noted was absent in the recently released Republic E-Wing. Early shots of the upcoming Farmboy Luke look to have excellent sculpting - but a frustrating lack of paint weathering details that would be appropriate on a character that spends his day working and wasting time with his friends in the desert.

4. Don't release figures using an old buck that is already doomed by the pipeline.

While it wasn't public yet, Hasbro obviously had plans to upgrade the controversial and tired VC45 Clone Trooper sculpt while they continued to release clones that used the old mold. Specifically, we got a bunch of clones right around the time the all new VC269 Phase II Clone Trooper was announced. This included VC240 501st Clone Trooper, VC248 332nd Ahsoka's Clone Trooper, and the 4-pack Trooper Builder Set of Phase I Clone Troopers. I took particular offense to this because of my focus collection on 501st Clones. While I passed on buying multiples of VC240 because I already had plenty of them, I did buy a case of the Ahsoka clones. Shortly thereafter, the new clone sculpt was pipelined as a basic figure sourced to Andor. Of course, it was almost immediately revealed that another 4-pack including an updated 501st and 332nd was coming. Super frustrating. Bottom line, Hasbro, nuke the crappy old sculpt once you commit to investing in a new one. There were way too many clones in TVC 2.0 that were repainted using VC45, and that's lame.

5. Army builders must be of highest possible quality

If you're going to sculpt the buck of a figure that you have designs on repainting a million times, please make sure you get that sculpt right. And don't re-use it if it turns out it is subpar. The recent Imperial officer sculpt is an example. It is excellent, no doubt, but the nitpicks seem to get amplified which each subsequent repaint. The main problem with the officer is something that I mentioned earlier: The elbows and knees are sadly not good enough with regard to range of motion. If it was just a single release, I'd complain about it once and then move on. But every time we get a new officer, I get more and more frustrated with the bad elbows/knees that barely reach 90 degrees, let alone go past as is needed.

There was a similar issue with the Stormtrooper. An outstanding (at the time) VC140 was created that was far and away the best sculpt of this iconic army builder. Let's just disregard the fact that almost simultaneously Hasbro released Han and Luke in Stormtrooper disguises that ignored this amazing new figure and instead used VC41, which itself was heavily rooted in the 2004 VOTC figure. Among a few negative issues, the biggest problem for VC140 was described by Chris:

This is perhaps the most conspicuous lack of rocker ankles in the history of the line.

It's like the Stormtrooper was made for rocker ankles. And after investing in VC141, at a time when rocker ankles definitely existed but were inexplicably not used here, Hasbro issued several repaints. Some heroic individual must have told Hasbro they needed to add rocker ankles, and not a moment too soon we finally got VC231.

But just as that was made, it became apparent to collectors (and Hasbro must have known this earlier than us since they were developing it) that yet another upgrade was needed. As the new-style hip articulation has been introduced as a standard in the line, the Stormtrooper virtually requires this immediate upgrade. Numerous collectors have commented here that they will not buy another stormtrooper until the hips are upgraded.

Now, obviously, this indicates something about TVC. Hasbro is never done innovating. This is a good thing. In theory, if Hasbro waited until they invented the ultimate 3.75" action figure, they'd never release anything. I'm simply saying that if Hasbro has one of those innovations in the pipeline, they should reserve creating an iconic army builder that is going to be repainted and re-released countless times until after that innovation can be integrated into the sculpt.

Aaaand we're done...

I probably have a few more "rules" I can think of (swappable heads instead of over-the-head helmets, soft goods required to avoid restricting articulation, consistent naming/numbering conventions), but as this has gone well beyond the TLDR stage, I'm going to mercifully end it here in a minute.

Everything above can probably be summed up as this: Hasbro, please stop cutting corners on our figures. While many collectors differ in their opinions about how much they are willing to pay, or which figures deserve which treatment, I think a significant majority of the community would agree that we are paying ($17 as of today) for premium articulation, paint, and accessories for every figure in the line - anything less will be the fastest way to alienate collectors and possibly drive us from the hobby.

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